Pick Up The Pieces
by Blood Red Vampress
Summary: Bella takes a fall while trying to reach a box in the Cullen house while they are all out hunting. Carlisle comes home early and helps her out. Good thing he's there to pick up the pieces. Bella/Carlisle father/daughter rel. fluff/ one-shot, no sequel


**Alright everybody! I know I have literally been beamed off the planet for the past two months. I've been so busy that I haven't even been on here since November. I'm sorry for the long absence! Forgive me, ne?**

**Here's a little Bella/Carlisle fluffy one-shot that I just thought up randomly last week. I'm not sure I should even publish this one, so bear with me here. And yes, I'm back, so more Bella and Carlisle lemons are coming in the near future. This one, however, is only a Bella and Carlisle father and daughter relationship. :)**

**((PS- The link to the picture of the armoire mentioned in this story is on my profile page!))**

**_[Recommended song while reading: "Help, I'm Alive" by Metric] -This song is on my playlist. The link to my playlist is on my profile page. Go there to listen. _**

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**Pick Up The Pieces**

All I have to do is....a little more...

I sighed and decided at that moment that I was not going to accept defeat. I put it up there before and I was certainly going to get it down again.

I reached on my tippy-toes and stretched up a bit further, not liking the sound of the wooden chair creaking beneath me.

As I stretched my hand up above the edge of the cabinet, I was greeted with the smell and feel of the slick dust covering my fingertips. I sneezed and held on tight to the top to keep my balance.

After all, being as clumsy as me and trying to do a job like this was no easy feat. In fact, I'd be better off driving Edward's Volvo at 100 miles per hour across a single-lane bridge over the Grand Canyon during a thunderstorm. Maybe even then I'd be safer than clinging for dear life to the top of an armoire, which was covered in dust.

My eyes started to water as I felt my allergies start to act up. Now was not the time- I needed to get that box!

Inside of that box was everything- all my diaries, my secret notes to Edward and my personal items. Hell, I even think I put a few tampons in there for emergencies. How those were going to help me when they were on top of a cabinet twice my height beats me. But all I know is that Alice is the one to blame.

No one told her to come along and redecorate my entire room! She could have at least put this box somewhere I could reach it without killing myself. I mean, sure I like it now better than I did before, but still...I kind of liked the old personal order I got from my semi-messy room here at the Cullen house.

On second thought, maybe I should just be glad that I got a room here after all. It was all Carlisle's idea really. He figured since I'd be spending so much time with Edward and his family here, and they had an extra room, that I could have it and make it my own. I still vividly remember that day as if it was just yesterday. Even he didn't have the power to stop Alice from going all out.

And that is how the armoire that I'm currently hanging onto came about. You see, Edward's birthday is in a few days and I'm going to make a scrapbook of the times we spent together for his present. But, all the pictures and notes I wrote to him and little presents he gave to me are on top of said armoire in a shoebox.

Edward and his entire family are out hunting right now...otherwise I would have gotten one of them to get the box for me. I have a spare key just in case and I figured I might as well start making the present while Edward wasn't here to loom over me. He would probably figure it out anyways...but hey- at least I can try.

So I drove over here in the pouring rain to get this box that I thought was underneath my bed where I last left it. Turns out Alice got new furniture and put my little box of love on top of the tallest piece in the room. Why would she even do that?

Oh yeah, and did I tell you how much I hate gravity at this point? It just makes uncoordinated people like me suffer terribly.

I continued to reach over the top edge and for a split second, I felt the cardboard brush my fingertips. This spurred me on and I stretched more, putting my full weight on my toes as my hands clawed at the top. I felt a bead of sweat form on my brow as I grunted to grab the box above me.

The chair creaked dangerously beneath me. And I just had the box in my hands when the chair fell from below me.

I felt my ankle roll as the chair fell and my legs slipped off of it.

I couldn't hold back the loud scream that reverberated though the house as I plummeted to the ground, my box falling with me.

Within a second, I hit the ground with a sickening thud and a sharp pain shot up my elbow as it smashed onto the wooden floor. The box fell on top of my stomach and it's contents flew everywhere and I just groaned, laying on the floor in pain.

Just as the pungent and metallic smell of blood filled my nose, I heard noises on the floor beneath me. I felt insanely faint as a voice I knew called out to me.

"Bella?!"

It wasn't Edward, I knew that much. The voice was male and it's soft, rich tone could only be one other person: Dr. Carlisle Cullen.

But what was he doing home?

I tried to respond, but my head was spinning and the pain of the fall was tearing across my body everywhere.

I heard quick footsteps and the door to the room opened so fast that the movement made my nausea worse and bile rose in my throat.

In a flash, Carlisle was down on the ground next to me.

"Bella? Are you okay? What happened? Speak to me," Carlisle's worried voice pressed.

I saw his worried face lean over me and look down across my body with an expert eye, searching for any visible fractures or cuts.

I moved my right arm that was stinging and the smell of blood almost made me vomit right then and there.

"Carlisle....I...," I began to speak, but the blood was too much.

I sat up halfway, Carlisle holding my back for support.

"Are you okay? Take it easy, Bella," Carlisle said sternly as I forced myself to sit up.

I looked down at my bleeding arm to assess the damage for a split second and I knew I was going to vomit any second. The smell hit me like a ton of bricks and the tiny pool of blood that gathered on the floor was my downfall. I never should have looked.

A rush of adrenaline pumped through my veins as I felt my throat start to clench violently. I leaped up, Carlisle still trying to hold me back safely.

"Stop...I-," I said in vain.

I tugged my arm away from him and this time he let go silently. I tasted the disgusting contents of my stomach start to fill my mouth as I ran blinded by tears.

When I began crying, I can't remember, but it made this whole thing only worse.

I ran as fast I could, which wasn't fast at all, to the bathroom just down the hall.

I didn't even bother to close the door behind me as I flicked the light on and leaped for the porcelain bowl near the shower.

I fell on my knees hard against the white tiled floor as my stomach clenched harder than ever. One of my hands reached up to the top of the toilet as the other wrapped around my stomach and I emptied my stomach, crying the entire time.

It was only when I started dry heaving did I realize Carlisle was next to me on the floor.

"Shhh, Isabella. It's alright....," he whispered soothing words to me as he gently rubbed my back.

My stomach was totally empty and still clenched for the violent episode a second ago.

"Oh god....," I moaned as I finally stopped gagging.

I felt hot and feverish and broken all at the same time. My face streaked with tears and my mouth disgusting and me being so overly ashamed of myself, I couldn't bring myself to look Carlisle in the face.

I bowed my head and took a deep breath as Carlisle reached up and flushed the toilet above me.

"How are you feeling?," he asked kindly, one arm still around my waist.

"Like hell...and then some," I groaned out.

"Well, that's good. I would hope so at this point," he chuckled a bit. "Are you feeling alright to get up?"

I nodded slowly, feeling a bit better already.

I got up slowly, Carlisle's hands on my waist helping me stand up straight. I dragged my aching body over to the sink and washed out my mouth, hoping I could wash away the visual of the blood on the floor and my arm that I saw a minute or two earlier. I looked up into the mirror to see my overly pale face starting back at myself.

"I'm sorry Carlisle. I'm so stupid, being so squeamish...ugh," I groaned and turned to my second father to explain and apologize for being such a burden as usual.

"There's no need to apologize, Bella," he smiled brilliantly. "Are you sure you're alright? You fell pretty hard."

I shook my arms and legs, still trying to get my bearings.

"Well, I'm still alive and in one piece, so I guess that counts for something, right?," I smiled slightly.

He laughed lightly.

"Why don't we go to my office and I'll bandage that arm of yours before it gets infected?," Carlisle asked politely.

"Okay."

I silently walked out of the bathroom and waited in the hallway as he turned off the bathroom light and pulled in the door.

"After you, Bella."

He gestured for me to walk ahead. I mechanically walked to his study. With every step, I could feel his physician eyes boring into the back of my body, still checking for injuries. And with every step, I could feel the hot, wet and sticky blood flow down my arm.

I pushed the image out of my mind and concentrated on walking as I continued down the hallway.

We got to his office and I stepped inside, feeling the cooler air hit my skin as a result of the door being closed all day and the shades drawn.

I immediately went for a couch in the corner that looked comfortable as Carlisle turned on the office light. I wearily watched him as he walked to a cabinet in the corner that was no doubt filled with medical supplies and pull out a roll of bandages, some gauze and a bottle of alcohol.

I guess that meant I didn't need stitches. That was one thing in my favor this time- no needles.

He grabbed everything and put it on a tray and carried it in one hand while he pulled a wooden chair towards me in the other.

He set the chair down directly in front of my spot on the couch and put the try on the couch next to me. He smiled reassuringly, flashing his perfect teeth as he held his hand out for my arm.

"Relax, Bella. It'll be over before you know it...and you can get back to....whatever it was that you were doing," he grinned.

"Trying to get a box from the top of the armoire," I answered as I blushed.

I watched carefully as Carlisle soaked a piece of gauze with alcohol and pressed at against my arm to clean the small slice near my elbow.

I couldn't help but yelp at the stinging pain and pull my arm away. Much to my surprise, Carlisle didn't hold my hand back; he actually let me pull away.

"Ouch," I groaned.

He looked up at me and smiled with an air of comfort.

"I know it hurts, but it only takes a second," he smiled brighter. "May I have your arm?"

I grudgingly handed my arm out to him and bit my lip as the stinging worsened when he cleansed the cut. When he was finished, he put the blood soaked gauze on the tray and blew his cool breath on my cut he just cleaned.

"Almost done," he said quietly.

Intently, he finished off the job by lightly bandaging the cut neatly and using a single piece of medical tape to hold it together securely.

"There. All better," he smiled and began to get up, taking the small tray with him.

"Thank you, Carlisle. I really owe you one. I know I'm a bit of a pain...so thanks a lot," I blushed as I got up and slowly walked to the door, feeling a bit stronger since my earlier fall.

Yeah, my body was aching, but the only thing I could feel at this point was tiredness. I guess I would just go get the box and head on home for the night, get some sleep and start the scrapbook in the morning. That sounded good to me at this point.

"Nonsense. You owe me nothing, Bella. I'm glad to help you out," Carlisle answered.

I silently slipped out of the room, leaving Carlisle to clean up by the cabinet, and walked back to my room.

By the time I got there and walked into the bedroom, Carlisle was already behind me following me in. We both just looked at the ground and surveyed the mess on the floor that was once safely inside of the shoebox that belonged to me.

"I better start picking this up," I sighed as I walked over and bent down to grab a few stuff from the ground.

As I bent my body ached more and I groaned slightly at the feeling. I evaded the tiny pool of blood that was near the foot of my bed and began to brag stuff from the other side of the room. Really, it seemed like the entire box just exploded.

"Let me help you," Carlisle insisted and also began to pick up all the stuff he saw on the floor. In one second, he had more stuff in his hands than I. Stupid, perfect, and beautifully fast vampires.

"I think you've helped me enough for one day," I smiled.

"Well, considering you nearly broke your arm, possibly almost sprained your ankle and nearly got a concussion from an inanimate object that is twice your size, I don't think you've gotten nearly enough help as you might have needed if you had fallen harder. You really must try to be more careful, Bella," Carlisle grinned as he began walking over to me with a handful of papers and smaller boxes filled with jewelry from Edward.

I picked up the shoebox that somehow survived and Carlisle dropped all the stuff in his arms inside of it. I blushed.

"I know. It was my fault," I said, dropping my head.

Carlisle reached out and held my chin, tilting my head up to look at him.

"All that matters it that you are okay," he smiled as he looked in my eyes. "Now where is that signature Ms. Swan smile?"

I couldn't help but smile and giggle at being treated like a little child like this. I actually like it though. It makes me feel...loved.

"There we go," he pinched my cheek as I smiled brightly, unable to contain my happiness that I had such a wonderful second father like Carlisle himself.

I looked down to close the box in my hand when I spotted two objects on the far side of the room on the floor.

"Oh," I muttered as I looked at them.

Carlisle instantly turned around and went to pick them up for me. I thought they were those miniature packs of tissues that I got a while ago, but when Carlisle walked closer with a sly grin on his face, I realized that they were anything but.

"I believe these belong to you," he stated as he stopped in front of my and outstretched his hand to hand my the objects.

I looked in his hand and blushed harder than I had at any other time in my entire life. He was holding two tampons.

"Ohhh....ummm....thank you," I stuttered and blushed so hard that I felt feverish again.

I grabbed the two tampons from his hand and promptly stuck them in the box I held.

"Well, thanks. I, uh, h-have to be getting home now. Bye!," I managed a quick smile before almost running out of the room in sheer horror and embarrassment.

That was the most humiliating moment of my entire life...having Carlisle hand me tampons! I blushed even harder as I thought about the grin on his face when he saw my facial expression response.

But I probably got over it before I even reached my driveway. After all, Carlisle was like my second father. Scratch that- he _is_ my second father. And nothing in the world could change that.

The good thing about being klutzy around Carlisle is that he doesn't make fun of me and he can actually help me physically. Most importantly, he is always there to pick up the pieces. That's why I love him with all my heart....my dad.

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**Well, that's my cute little one-shot. Sorry if it was a bit graphic about Bella and stuff. -_-**

**The link to the picture of the armoire/dresser is on my profile page! **

**Now, thanks for reading and please leave me a review. Reviews make me eternally happy! :D**


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